Head bumping

Head bumping, also known as skull fighting, was a supposed minor sport during the early 20th century.

Overview

In a January 13, 1927, article in the Austin Daily Herald, University of Minnesota athlete Leif Strand said he was proficient in the Scandinavian sport of skull-fighting, in which "participants, after becoming fiercely angry at one another glare steadily for about ten seconds, draw in their necks, and then shoot out their heads like a couple of pistons." He declined to exhibit the sport as he could not find anyone to skull-fight. Fellow University of Minnesota athlete Emil Iverson, originally from Denmark, said he had witnessed many skullfights among Scandinavian sailors. Later that month, Strand was challenged by the supposed world head-bumping champion Johnny Carmody, whose assistant manager Jack Downey claimed that the sport originated in Ireland, not Scandinavia. Carmody had supposedly head-bumped in Russia, Japan, Turkey, China, Abyssinia, Kaffirland, and Ireland. Downey said that Carmody had fractured the skull of Matsadu Sorokichi in Tokyo, and broken the neck of the "skull-bumping" champion of Zululand.

Bud Jenkins, the claimed Pennsylvania champion, challenged Carmody in January 1927. Jenkins' manager, J. V. Hannigan stated "I have affidavits from eminent specialists claiming my man has the thickest skull in America." Jenkins said the "sport" was of Welsh origin. In February 1927, Polish head bumper Joe Pintofsudski challenged both Strand and Carmody. Pintofsudski had previously been banned by a judge in 1923.